Summary

Notifiable disease in the US.

Postexposure prophylaxis with wound cleansing, immunization, and rabies immune globulin is highly effective at preventing the disease when given promptly and properly.

Symptoms begin with a nonspecific prodromal illness. In encephalitic rabies, this is followed by early-onset behavioral changes and late-onset paralysis. In the paralytic form, the behavioral changes are absent.

Almost always fatal following onset of clinical signs. The disease is rapidly progressive, leading to death within 2 weeks in most cases. Some survivors have been reported.

Definition

An acute viral encephalomyelitis caused by the rabies virus and other members of the
Lyssavirus
genus, which is transmitted by animal bites, mainly dogs in developing countries and bats in other countries including the US. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a global goal to achieve no human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030.
[1]World Health Organization; World Organisation for Animal Health. Global elimination of dog-mediated human rabies: report of the Rabies Global Conference. 2016 [internet publication].
http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/resources/who_htm_ntd_nzd_2016.02/en/

Disclosures

Disclosures

The Medical College of Wisconsin receives funds for research grants related to rabies. RW provides advice to teams treating human rabies and is an author of a number of references cited in this monograph.

Disclosures

PL is a member of the Australian Travel Health Advisory Group that is supported by a grant from GlaxoSmithKline. PL has received travel grants from GlaxoSmithKline to attend travel medical conferences in the last 5 years.